Jose Mourinho’s admiration for Manchester United’s summer recruit Zlatan Ibrahimovic (picture) soared to new heights on Saturday as he cooed about the Swede’s “superman” mentality following his latest match-winning tour de force at West Bromwich Albion.
In the week, Mourinho had described Ibrahimovic as “undroppable” and he was delighted to be given another shining illustration of just why as the 35-year-old scored both goals in the 2-0 league win at the Hawthorns.
“I’m so pleased for him,” he told BBC Sport. “He’s the kind of player who doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone but when he decides to come to England in the last period of his career, to the most difficult championship, I think he proved he’s a superman in his mentality.”
Milito quits as Independiente coach
Former Barcelona and Argentina defender Gabriel Milito has quit as coach of Independiente after Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat by Banfield in the Argentine first division.
Milito, who took charge in May and as a centre-back helped Independiente win their last league title in 2002, is the 15th coach to leave a club in Argentina’s 30-team championship since the beginning of the season in August.
“I gave my best but it didn’t work out. I think this is the time to step aside,” the 36-year-old, younger brother of former Inter and Racing Club striker Diego Milito, told reporters.
Klopp won’t rush back Coutinho
Influential midfielder Philippe Coutinho was making encouraging progress from an ankle injury but will not be rushed back to boost Liverpool’s Premier League title aspirations, manager Juergen Klopp has said.
“It would be cool. He is improving a lot,” Klopp told British media when asked if Coutinho could be back for the clash against Manchester City at Anfield on New Year’s Eve.
“He is off his crutches since the West Ham game (on Dec. 11), when we left the stadium he was walking in front without them.”
Leicester may be in hot water with FA
Manager Claudio Ranieri and Leicester City’s players and fans may be in hot water following ill-discipline and off-field crowd behaviour during the 10-man champions’ remarkable 2-2 fightback at Stoke City on Saturday.
The normally unflappable Ranieri has rarely ever appeared more enraged as he confronted referee Craig Pawson at the interval following a stormy first half during which Jamie Vardy was sent off and Leicester fell two goals behind.
As they were coming off the pitch at the break, Ranieri and some of his players remonstrated with Pawson and, as the official passed Leicester supporters while accompanied by security, coins appeared to be thrown at him.
Rooney failed by FA, says Neville
Gary Neville has accused the Football Association of failing England captain Wayne Rooney with its handling of the controversy that surrounded his late-night behaviour at the team hotel last month.
Former England assistant boss Neville said FA chief executive Martin Glenn was guilty of a PR “disaster” when saying an investigation would be launched.
“My issue is how it was dealt with by the FA and by the team,” Neville said.
“When you talk about fanning the flames, that’s exactly what the FA did that week. Martin Glenn came out and said he would start an investigation – disaster, that was a disastrous statement. It’s not an investigation, it’s a phone call to say ‘what happened?’.”
Chelsea still not favourites – Matic
Nemanja Matic insists Chelsea are still not the favourites for the Premier League title, despite Saturday’s 1-0 defeat of Crystal Palace giving them an 11th consecutive league win.
Matic told the club’s official website: “It is a long way to go.
“We are now almost halfway through the season and we still have many hard games so we are not favourites, we are just one of the teams that can now win the title and I am sure there are more than five teams that will try to catch us for first position. We can improve of course.”
Lazio monitoring Gabbiadini situation
Reports in Italy suggest that Lazio are ready to make an approach for Napoli forward Manolo Gabbiadini.
Despite enjoying regular football for Maurizio Sarri’s team in recent months, Gabbiadini has scored only two goals in 16 appearances this season.
However, Gabbiadini could slip down the pecking order in January as Arkadiusz Milik is making progress in his recovery from injury and Genoa’s Leonardo Pavoletti is believed to be a January target for Napoli.
Calcio News 24 reported that Lazio director of football Igli Tare is monitoring the situation with a view to making an offer for Gabbiadini who has also been linked with a move to Everton in the English Premier League.